Younger Voters Disenchanted With Obama?

by ~ The Rebel ~ Posted 2011/12/18 11:48:56

Related Topics: Trend, President, State, Harvard, Work, United States, Joe Biden, Economy, Biden, Loyal, Years, Politics, Poll, Survey, America

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Accentuating a trend that had started four years before, young voters broke big for the Democratic presidential ticket: Obama and Joe Biden garnered some 66 percent of voters under the age of 30 — a huge generation — and the raw number of young voters increased as well.

For starters, the dominant political issue in the United States right now is the economy — and this is especially true for the newest entrants to the workforce. A new national poll of 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics released Thursday showed that in an open-ended question — meaning without prompting by the question — 74 percent of respondents cited the economy as the most important issue.

On that issue, only 32 percent approve of the way President Obama is handling the economy. This mirrors a finding in a poll done in April by a group called Generation Opportunity. The Harvard survey is overseen by John Della Volpe, a Democrat; Generation’s Opportunity’s researcher is Kellyanne Conway, a Republican who was retained this week by Newt Gingrich. But both are highly respected professionals — and their data dovetailed neatly.

The upshot is that Obama has work to do among his most loyal generational cohort. In the Harvard poll, under-30s believe by a 4-1 margin that America is headed in the “wrong” direction. This is a number that would spell trouble for any incumbent, and not just one whose candidacy promised “hope” and whose mantra “Change you can believe in” was tailored to young voters.

JanHopkins 2011/12/19 08:42:28

+1
The technical term for this is "growing up". It's no wonder some people are trying to promote voting rights for 16 year olds. The rest of our young people are becoming deprogrammed.

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Doug King 2011/12/18 19:49:52

+1
It's about time, welcome to the real world young people!

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TerroRising~PWCM~JLA 2011/12/18 15:06:44

+1
Nothing like that cold hard slap back to reality! With age we all hope comes wisdom & experience is the ONLY teacher.

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Wahvlvke 2011/12/18 13:28:52

+1
Perhaps young people still do have some sense ... too bad they aren't quicker to recognise it.

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Leesa 2011/12/18 11:51:57

+1

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